Emelie

Synopsis

After their regular babysitter can’t make it, the Thompson family turns to family friend Anna to supervise the children while they go out to celebrate their anniversary. What they don’t realize is that their new babysitter is decidedly unhinged.

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Asinine. The full expository sequence in the middle of the movie - designed for the dumb multiplex crowd needing everything explained in plain English - is a complete let down. Such is the state of American horror: millennial-friendly, made for snowflakes, uninspired, and remake-ridded. Too bad, because the opening scene was so promising.

What could've been a very tense home-invasion thriller that packed a serious punch turned out to be rather boring - especially in the final act. A slow-burn that doesn't pay off. That being said, there were some chills to be had - and the performances were all pretty good. It had an underlying cheapness that is hard to pinpoint.

With its stunning opening shot, "Emelie" evokes a mood of autumnal melancholy and suburban dread that recalls John Carpenter's masterpiece "Halloween." This is one of the most genuinely disturbing horror movies I've seen in quite some time. The fact that children's minds can be so incredibly resilient is really the only consolation the audience is offered, because these poor kids are going to be traumatized for life.

"Emelie" is an engaging modern thriller that is very much steeped in the Hitchcockian tradition, in pacing, cinematography and suspense alike. I enjoyed how the film started out with a feeling of innocence and banality, and grew to an explosion point where all loose ends became tied together. My only comment is that the very closing shot was left open-ended and this was kind of disappointing. Definitely see this.

Good idea, ho-hum execution. Emelie doesn't go much past its logline as a scare show that suffers from an identity crisis of placating to its simple setup without taking it much further in scares or character dimension. The lack of interest or progression is encapsulated in its last few moments with a Halloween-esque shot. Decent performances but the direction is generic, and it isn't as tense as it should be.